BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The North Park Women's Volleyball team continued their run in CCIW play, improving to 5-0 after a close win against the Titans of Illinois Wesleyan University in five sets (25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 14-25, 15-12). The win represents the first time North Park has ever beaten Illinois Wesleyan on the Titans' home court: the Shirk Center.
North Park took the lead, winning the first set 25-22. Wesleyan would respond, winning the second set 25-20. In the third set, the Vikings set the state with a close 25-23 victory, after which the Titans again brought it even with a 25-14 victory, forcing a fifth set. As the match reached its climax in the fifth set, the Vikings held the lead throughout the set, claiming a thrilling 15-12 fifth set win, and bringing the victory back to Albany Park.
Multiple Vikings made strong contributions to this win. Once again, Adrianna Rodriguez provides a strong showing with 18 kills, second only to IWU's Taylor French at 21, and first year Meg Rothermel contributed a solid 13 kills to the victory. Kharlie Simeona-French also helped the offensive charge with 9 kills of her own.
Christina Gatta worked hard for the Vikings both sides of the ball, contributing a staggering 46 assists and 16 digs. Carolina Aviles and Teiya Alagar followed closely behind, with 7 and 4 assists, respectively. Aviles and Rodriguez also held it down on defense, with 23 and 13 digs, respectively.
Historical Notes:
- Meg Rothermel's five blocks is tied for 8th-most in program history in a five-set match.
- North Park's 61 team kills are tied for 8th-most in program history in a five-set match.
- North Park's 61 team assists is tied for 4th-most in program history (all matches) and is also 4th most in five-set matches.
What's Next?
The Vikings improve to 17-2 (5-0 CCIW) and fly to New York to play Kean University, on Friday, October 13 before ranked matches against No. 4 Northwestern and No. 10 New York. The Kean match is set to start at 3:00 PM CST.
